iFixit: Samsung’s Gear 2 is easy to take apart, has replaceable battery

The new smartwatch is surprisingly user-serviceable for something of its size.

We weren't the biggest fans of Samsung's first Galaxy Gear, but however you feel about it (and the wearable computing phenomenon in general), it's clear that Samsung is willing to iterate quickly to fix the watch's biggest problems. That's the thinking behind the Tizen-powered Gear 2 smartwatches the company announced at Mobile World Congress in February—they trailed the original Gear by just a few months, but they aim to fix some of the watch's biggest problems.

Further Reading

The way the watches work will ultimately be more important than what's inside them, but iFixit's thorough teardown gives us some insight into what makes them tick. As advertised, the camera has been moved from the band of the watch to the body, and this makes the band easy to replace without the need for any screwdrivers or other tools.

Surprisingly, the rest of the watch isn't that easy to take apart, either. Four small Torx screws hold the back of the watch to the rest of it, and once you're inside you'll be able to remove the 300 mAh battery easily—it even has a pull tab. While this is probably the only internal component you'd actually need to replace over the useful life of a watch like this, iFixit was able to remove the camera, main system board, speaker, and the rest of the internal components with tweezers and spudgers—there isn't a lot of glue or specialty screws holding this thing together, which is odd for a product as small and tightly integrated as this one.

In the end, iFixit gave the watch an eight out of 10 on its repairability scale, docking points primarily because the LCD panel and the watch's front glass are fused together. Fusing these layers has tangible benefits—it makes the device thinner, and eliminating the traditional air gap between glass and display can help with color, contrast, and clarity—but the tradeoff is that you'll need to replace both layers if you break one of them. Look for a more detailed review of Samsung's latest Gears in the coming days.

13 Reader Comments

Is it just me or does there seem to be a fair amount of unused space inside the case? Look at the plastic frame surrounding the battery, in particular. Perhaps it serves a purpose, but I'm not sure what it would be.

Is it just me or does there seem to be a fair amount of unused space inside the case? Look at the plastic frame surrounding the battery, in particular. Perhaps it serves a purpose, but I'm not sure what it would be.

To prevent damage to the innards maybe? Sort of a crumple zone/shock absorber type thing?

Not sure why it's so easy to open or why it has a replaceable battery. Apple has shown that sealed batteries and cases make for fewer hardware failures, thinner devices, and longer battery life since they can exploit more unique battery shapes. My guess is that Samsung doesn't have the same battery conditioning technologies that Apple builds into their devices to ensure super long battery life..

I don't think it's odd that the Gear 2 is easy to disassemble, if you see it as a watch. Watches have been designed to be easily serviced since the invent of the watch. IMO this is much preferable to something that is halfway to the garbage heap when you buy it in order to save a couple of millimeters on size.

Not sure why it's so easy to open or why it has a replaceable battery. Apple has shown that sealed batteries and cases make for fewer hardware failures, thinner devices, and longer battery life since they can exploit more unique battery shapes. My guess is that Samsung doesn't have the same battery conditioning technologies that Apple builds into their devices to ensure super long battery life..

So you can't take the battery out of an Apple smartwatch? What about SD card support, does the Apple smartwatch have an SD slot?

the tradeoff is that you'll need to replace both layers if you break one of them

Because parts for this thing will be readily available to DIYers?

Of course they will. As are parts for everything else. Hell, iFixit themselves will probably sell parts for it if it gets popular enough.

I always love when people bring up this argument in these threads. All it shows is that they never actually looked for the parts. Granted, it's not as simple as walking into the local Radio Shack these days, but we have this thing called the internet now.

Not sure why it's so easy to open or why it has a replaceable battery. Apple has shown that sealed batteries and cases make for fewer hardware failures, thinner devices, and longer battery life since they can exploit more unique battery shapes. My guess is that Samsung doesn't have the same battery conditioning technologies that Apple builds into their devices to ensure super long battery life..

So you can't take the battery out of an Apple smartwatch? What about SD card support, does the Apple smartwatch have an SD slot?

Oops, what do you mean they have not finished copying Samsung again?

As an android owner I can assure you SD card support is vastly overrated. If it worked like it was supposed to you'd still need a computer to transfer your data to a larger card. That said it doesn't always work that well. To upgrade mine I had to back up everything and then reinstall most of my apps from the store.

Andrew Cunningham / Andrew has a B.A. in Classics from Kenyon College and has over five years of experience in IT. His work has appeared on Charge Shot!!! and AnandTech, and he records a weekly book podcast called Overdue.